Sisi pushes Egypt’s green energy drive with Norwegian, Chinese firms
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi conferred on Sunday with the chiefs of two leading global companies, the Norwegian Scatec and Chinese Sungrow, for a consideration of furthering co-operation with them in Egypt’s drive to optimise the renewable energy sector’s investments and deliverables.
Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli, Minister of Transport Kamel el-Wazir, and Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Eng. Mahmoud Esmat attended President Sisi’s meeting with Scatec’s CEO Terje Pilskog and Sungrow’s founder and chairman Ko Renxian.
At the outset of the meeting, President Sisi welcomed the senior executives, praising the ongoing co-operation between Egypt and the two companies, emphasising the importance of foreign direct investment in creating jobs in the renewable energy sector and advancing Egypt’s role as a regional energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Presidency Spokesman, Ambassador Mohamed el- Shennawy, said.
For his part, Scatec’s CEO outlined the company’s global efforts in clean energy and green fuel industries, pointing in this context to the growing scope of its projects in Egypt, including solar and wind power plants and green hydrogen initiatives.
Scatec’s projects, he noted, are considered among the most successful under Egypt’s national platform for Nexus on Water, Food and Energy (NWFE) that has been endorsed as a presidential initiative for advancing climate action on the national level.
The investment portfolio of projects carried out by Scatec in Egypt within the framework of NWFE’s energy branch is worth $3.6 billion, the company’s CEO said.
Key projects, he added, include the Obelisk Solar Plant in Naga Hammadi, a 1 GW solar plant with 200 MWh battery storage capacity for Egypt Aluminium Company, the Egypt Green Hydrogen project in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), the Shedwan wind farm in Ras Shuqeir, and a green ammonia plant in Damietta.
Sungrow’s chairman then presented the company’s work in manufacturing power station components and energy storage batteries, reviewing plans for a 10 GW/year battery factory in Egypt. He stressed Sungrow’s readiness to localise production in Egypt, leveraging the country’s infrastructure to support renewable energy development.
Also considered during the meeting were the prospects of trilateral co-operation between Egypt, Scatec, and Sungrow, Spokesman Shennawy said, adding that both companies expressed appreciation for Egypt’s efforts to facilitate their investments, aligned with the national vision of positioning Egypt as a green energy producer and exporter.
Commenting on these briefings, President Sisi stressed the need to maximise collaboration with Scatec and Sungrow, in line with Egypt’s policy to localise industry, enhance production quality, and remove any obstacles to their operations.
